The Misuse of Drugs Acts 1977 and 1984 and related regulations control the import, export, production, supply and possession of a range of named narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances listed in the Schedules to the legislation. Responding to the challenge of NPS, since 2009 amendments to the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA) of 1977, have been used as the means of regulating the supply of these substances on the Irish market. The Irish Department of Health and Children (DoHC) has the responsibility for preparing amendments to the MDA and proposing the scheduling of new substances, a process which may be done through public consultation. In 2009, the first NPS to be controlled, via a Statutory Instrument, was 1-benzylpiperazine (see Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) No.2 Regulations 2009, S.I. No. 122 of 2009. Since then, approximately 260 NPS were declared, via statutory instruments, to be controlled drugs under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1977 and 1984, with the unlawful possession and sale of these substances made subject to criminal sanctions. For instance, mephedrone, ketamine and substances structurally derived from BZP were added in 2010 (see S.I. No. 199/2010); BromodragonFLY, Salvinorin A, Mitragynine, among other were also added in 2011 (see S.I. No. 551/2011).